Violet brings a diverse background to her work, including education and professional experience in social work. She is a Certified Fitness Instructor, International Fitness Presenter, Master Trainer under the Powerstrike and Body Bar programs, and practicing Black Belt in Seido Karate, having achieved recognition as a competitive contact fighter both nationally and internationally. Her 18 years of professional group fitness experience started in Australia and blossomed in New York, progressing from volunteer instructor at the YMCA for eight years to a top draw now several years running at the city’s premier club, Equinox Fitness, with simultaneous stints at Reebok/Sports Club LA, Crunch Fitness and ZoneHampton Fitness along the way. As a featured guest instructor, she has headlined throughout the U.S. and abroad, including in Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, the Caribbean, Italy, and her native Melbourne. She has also logged many hours as a high-end private, celebrity, and corporate trainer, specializing in efficient, dynamically challenging routines requiring little to no equipment, and has served as a Nike Elite Athlete. Most recently, Violet taught her signature workouts to a master workshop of 250 Pan-Asian instructors in a three-day event in Seoul, Korea, as an Adidas Fitness Ambassador.
As a Star Trainer at ExerciseTV, Violet’s self-developed workouts currently reach 24 million homes in the U.S. through video-on-demand (VOD) offered by Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, and Bresnan Communications, along with the entire websphere via ExerciseTV’s online download service and DVD store (www.exercisetv.tv). Violet was hand picked by Jake from Body By Jake as one of five Star Trainers to help launch the network in January 2006 and has stood out as one of their top performing personalities in terms of both VOD and web views (top 5%). She is also the network’s most viewed and discussed personality on their YouTube promotional video placement and its leading blogger in terms of viewer page visits to her featured blog “The Spotlight: Expert Advice from Star Trainer Violet Zaki.” In her latest project at the network, she was selected by New Balance for their exclusively-sponsored Bridal Slimdown series launched in spring 2008.
As a featured instructor, Violet has 13 video/DVD titles in the marketplace to her credit:
Crunch: Cardio Sculpt (2003, Crunch Fitness, Starz/Anchor Bay)
Self: Your Best Butt Fast (2005, Self Magazine, Koch Vision)
Self: Firm Flat Abs Fast (2005, Self Magazine, Koch Vision)
Push TV’s Cardio Combat (2006, Push TV)
The Trainer’s Edge With Violet Zaki: Killer Kicks (2006, Koch Vision)
Self: Your Best Body Fast (2006, Self Magazine, Koch Vision)
Self: Sculpt Sexy Legs Fast (2007, Self Magazine, Koch Vision)
Star Trainers: Abs (2007, ExerciseTV, Lions Gate)
Star Trainers: Strength (2007, ExerciseTV, Lions Gate)
Star Trainers: Cardio (2007, ExerciseTV, Lions Gate)
Bridal Slimdown (2008, ExerciseTV, Lions Gate)
Cardio Kick (early 2009 scheduled release, Acorn Media Group/Acacia)
Cardio Sculpt (early 2009 scheduled release, Acorn Media Group/Acacia)
Violet’s various television show guest appearances have included the Home Shopping Network as a featured fitness expert representing Fitness Magazine, E! Entertainment Television’s The Girls Next Door, the CBS Early Show as weekly fitness correspondent, Live with Regis and Kelly, NBC’s Today show, Fox Business’ Happy Hour, and CW11’s Morning Show.
Violet has also appeared in and/or contributed content to several fitness and lifestyle magazines and websites, including Fitness, Muscle & Fitness Hers, Prevention, Self, Shape, Cosmopolitan, Essence, Heart & Soul, Marie Claire, Oxygen, the Knot, MSN, Brenda’s Wedding Blog, and FitSugar.Violet’s various television show guest appearances have included the Home Shopping Network as a featured fitness expert representing Fitness Magazine, E! Entertainment Television’s The Girls Next Door, the CBS Early Show as weekly fitness correspondent, Live with Regis and Kelly, NBC’s Today show, Fox Business’ Happy Hour, and CW11’s Morning Show.
Violet graduated from Deakin University, Australia, with a Bachelor of Applied Science and has 11 years of experience in career counseling, recruitment and social work at large non-profit organizations in both her home country and New York City, namely the Victorian Royal Guide Dogs for the Blind and Victorian School for Deaf Children in Melbourne and the Association for the Help of Retarded Children (AHRC) in NYC. All this work experience overlapped a simultaneous fitness career, including the eight years as a YMCA volunteer instructor in NYC while persisting to get her green card. She has also worked with athletes with disabilities as a Special Olympics trainer and inner-city kids through the Fresh Air Fund and Energy Up! High Voltage, along with inspired the corporate types through motivational engagements at places like Liz Claiborne. Besides fitness, her other outlets of self expression and creativity have ranged from being the lead singer in rock bands "The Flying Monkeys" and "Side Show Bob” years ago to learning to dance Salsa, Hustle, and Viennese Waltz. In addition to English, Violet is fluent in Arabic and Australian Sign Language.
Please visit http://www.youtube.com/user/vzaki to view Violet’s professional sample reel.
Zaki Coaching
Specializing in physical and emotional fitness, Violet Zaki evaluates the mind & body aspect of achieving well-being and physical fitness. She firmly believes you cannot have one without the other. Violet works with her clients to jointly assess their current health and fitness issues and then develops a comprehensive program that sets goals on training, health, nutrition and life.
Zaki Consulting
Violet Zaki regularly provides fitness content and advice to a variety of magazines, websites, TV shows, resorts, gyms and corporations. Her articles, quotations, profiles, and fitness tips have been featured in magazines, including Self, Shape, Fitness and Prevention, along with websites for www.exercisetv.tv. She has discussed fitness and demonstrated exercises on the CBS Early Show’s Inside Fitness "All-Star Summer Shape-Up" series, Live with Regis & Kelly, and Home Shopping Network. Violet also has a series called "Zaki Talk" where she visits companies and conducts motivational seminars to help communicate the importance of a strong, mind and body to employees. The goal is to boost employee health with a workplace wellness program and individual education, promoting a more productive environment.
Zaki Fitness
Violet Zaki regularly teaches group fitness classes at Equinox Fitness in New York City (www.equinoxfitness.com). Her schedule includes various martial-arts, kickboxing, conditioning, sculpting and stretching oriented classes, many of which are self-developed, signature workouts. She also teaches Powerstrike (developed by Ilaria Montagnani) as a Master Trainer.
